OPINION — Editorial

Perils of aerial chess

Five feet isn't a whole lot of space, but Russia apparently thinks it's just enough to send the U.S. a message. On Monday, a Russian Su-27 fighter jet sidled up alongside a U.S. Air Force RC-135 reconnaissance plane flying over the Baltic Sea, coming within 5 feet of the American aircraft. The Russian jet lingered for a few minutes, then veered away.

On Wednesday, the Kremlin said a NATO F-16 fighter jet flew up to a Russian plane carrying Kremlin Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, again over the Baltic. Shoigu landed safely in the Russian city of Kaliningrad, but the incident clearly rankled the Kremlin.

Not yet dogfights, just dogs barking at each other.

Nevertheless, using fighter jets to parry and riposte puts both countries at risk of a confrontation that neither could easily walk--or fly--away from. Before this gets out of hand, the administrations of President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin need to remind themselves that neither side needs or wants direct military engagement.

Achieving victory over Islamic State, by the way, should be as much of a goal for Moscow as it is for Washington. The militant who killed 16 people in an attack on a subway train in St. Petersburg in April is suspected of having links to Islamic State. And a new seedbed for Islamic State recruits has emerged in Central Asia's former Soviet republics, which enjoy visa-free travel with Russia. The U.S. and Russia have reams of divergent views and goals, but defeating Islamic State shouldn't be one of them.

Editorial on 06/23/2017

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